1. Field of the Invention
The invention is to a guide means for portable hand-held tools used primarily for cutting. For stability, safety and cutting accuracy, assemblies or guide means are provided for hand-held tools. When cutting is to take place at an angle other than perpendicular to a surface, means are provided for adjusting the angle between the tool guide and the work surface and for controlling the tool movement during cutting. Provisions are made for cutting non-planar surfaces, such as curved surfaces, and for facilitating storage and transport.
2. Description of Related Art
The invention is a modification of and an improvement over the prior invention disclosed in applicant's U.S. Pat. No. 5,006,022 issued Apr. 9, 1991. In that patent there is disclosed a tool having a guide slot between the grip and drill proper used with a guide post positioned on a support base such that, with the guide slot positioned over the guide post, both the line of force applied to the tool grip and the line of force applied to a handle on the tool guide both pass within the footprint defined by the base of the tool guide. While provisions are made in that patent for angular cutting, the post is rigidly attached to the base and provides limited support, contact and stability on the work surface during angular cutting and the guide means is not particularly easy to store and transport.
The use of hand tool guides that have a pivoted attachment on a base for angular cutting are common in the art with Daniels; U.S. Pat. No. 2,831,376 issued Apr. 22, 1958; and Carles; U.S. Pat. No. 2,953,045 issued Sep. 20, 1990; and Carles; U.S. Pat. No. 3,077,129 issued Feb. 12, 1963; and Treichler; U.S. Pat. No. 3,534,639 issued Oct. 20, 1970; and Self et al; U.S. Pat. No. 3,890,058 issued Jun. 17, 1975; and Stiger; U.S. Pat. No. 4,082,474 issued Apr. 4, 1978; and Haddon; U.S. Pat. No. 4,729,698 issued Mar. 8, 1988; examples. The use of channels for cutting small and round objects is likewise old and in common use as shown by Carles and Haddon cited above; with Jenkins; U.S. Pat. No. 2,622,458 issued Dec. 23, 1952; and Pugsley; U.S. Pat. No. 2,997,900 issued Aug. 29, 1961; and Glover; U.S. Pat. No. 4,072,440 issued Feb. 7, 1978; additional examples.